Transparency in global realty improving slowly

Most of the global real estate markets have showed slow improvement in terms of increase in transparency according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle and LaSalle Investment Management. The 2010 Commercial Real Estate Transparency Index shows that Australia is the world's most transparent real estate market in 2010 with Canada at second place.
Whilst one third of markets globally registered no change or a deterioration, there are a number of bright spots, and real estate transparency continues to improve, albeit moderately, in the majority of markets, says the report. Interestingly - from the Indian perspective - India is amongst the top 15 improvers. The remaining nine are from Europe and five are in Asia Pacific. Turkey tops the league table of transparency improvers, and progress has been made in China, India, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Greece and Hungary.
Markets in Pakistan, Kuwait, Venezuela, Dubai and Bahrain have registered modest levels of declines. Jacques Gordon, Global Head of Strategy for LaSalle Investment Management, the independent fund management arm of Jones Lang LaSalle said: "The 2010 Global Real Estate Transparency Index suggests that the recent turmoil in global financial, economic and real estate markets has impacted on market behaviour, with real estate players focusing on survival rather than market advancement.
It is interesting to note that the most highly transparent countries experienced illiquidity and volatility over last two years, despite their positions at the top of the transparency rankings. That said transparency does appear to speed up the restructuring process.
Rosemary Feenan, Head of Global Research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: Indian tertiary cities are benefiting from improvements in the availability of title records and moves such as the consistent application of building codes.
These approaches are creating a new layer of competitiveness and as new urban strategies are created, especially in emerging markets, we are likely to see further serious attention given to issues of transparency as these cities work hard to compete for future investment."